Switched
by singinilovebooks
Summary: What would happen if Clary knew she was a shadowhunter, but Jace didn't? (clary raised by Valentine, Jace raised by Jocelyn, biological parents same as in books) T for Language and violence because im paranoid. I don't own the Mortal Instruments. HIATUS
1. Pandemonium

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Mortal Instruments, that honor goes to the wonderfully genius Cassandra Clare. Some of the lines closely resemble hers as well.**

* * *

Waiting in line with his best friend Simon, Jace Fray, along with every other teen in the line for Pandemonium Club, leaned forward when he heard a skirmish at the entrance to the all-ages all-hours club. The boy trying to get in was strange, even for Pandemonium, dressed as some sort of hunter, but with a bright blue mohawk, and eyes such a bright green that they couldn't be natural, almost the color of radioactive waste, or a neon green glowstick.

"Oh, come on! It's fake, see?" he said, holding up a wooden stake above his head and bending it easily. "I'm a vampire hunter!"

Suddenly the bouncer seemed changed for a second. "Oh, fine, go on through." Right after that, he seemed to shake himself out of it, but seemed wary afterward, spooked.

Finally inside the club, Jace looked around, wondering where the boy had gone. "What?" he heard Simon say, "You worried that that boy is going to usurp you as 'Hottest Teenage Boy in Brooklyn?"

Irked, Jace responded with a huff, "As if that impostor could ever beat me in hotness. I am the hottest!" Seeing Simon's amused smile, he said "Shut up, Lewis. No one asked your opinion. You could win 'Most Average Looking Boy in Brooklyn,' if you really wanted to."

"Whatever. I have had girlfriends in the past, you know," Simon responded.

"Oi, look over there! That girl's really pretty," Jace said, nudging Simon sharply with his elbow. Looking where Jace pointed, he saw no one, but Jace seemed transfixed.

Jace saw a girl, with fiery red hair, wearing a black skin-tight jumpsuit that covered up her arms and legs completely, gesturing at the mohawk boy to come with her. They were now disappearing into a door marked "No Entry- Employees Only." This wasn't odd, just a couple sneaking off into dark corners of the club to do unspeakable things to each other, but suddenly Jace saw two people who appeared to have been trailing them through the crowd meet at the door. One of them pulled out something shiny-a knife-and they went through the door.

"Simon! I just saw a knife! Go get a bouncer."

"Wha?" he spluttered, confused.

"Just go!" Jace ordered, shoving him towards the door, then sprinting through the crowd towards the door.

* * *

"What's your name?" he purred, alone in the room with this girl, pulsing with vitality.

"My name?" she asked with a giggle, "Clarissa."

"Clarissa." The word rolled over his tongue, and it gave him great pleasure to say it. "I can't say I recognise you."

"Are you asking me if we've met before?" she said, grinning and itching at her neck. In the process, the neck of her jumpsuit was caught low on her neck, revealing a pitch-black tattoo that appeared to be some sort of symbol. Too late, the boy realized what it was-a rune.

"You-," he choked out, freezing, but he realized too late. Even his demonic reflexes couldn't save him she pulled some odd-shaped bangles off of her arm and flung them at him. They hit their mark, cutting off two fingers and pinning his baggy sweatshirt to a support pillar. She then pulled out some electrum wire, securing him with it. He then noticed two others, clearly familiar with the girl, who had just entered the room.

"He's all yours, guys," Clarissa sang. "I had my fun."

One of the others, a tall girl with long black hair, smiled and answered her, seemingly delighted. "Oh, Clary, you're so thoughtful! How did you know I wanted to kill a demon today?"

"Just the parabatai bond, Iz. As always."

A boy who like just like 'Iz' warned them, "Come on, Isabelle, Clary, just kill it. You can joke later."

In response, Iz pouted. "Oh, fine. You're such a party pooper, Alec." She then turned around pulled a dull, see through blade from a sheath on her thigh. "Raphael," she whispered, and it lit up. The boy tied to the pillar flinched at the sight, and began begging.

"Please!" he cried, "Don't kill me. I have information on Valentine! I know where he is! I'll tell you!"

Alec spoke again. "You seriously think we would believe you, demon?" After asking his question, he turned back to Clary and Isabelle, saying, "Just kill him. You know he's lying." What he saw when he looked at them scared him. Clary was shaking in anger and fear, and Izzy was trying to get her to calm down.

"I will not calm down, Izzy. You know that I can't be calm where _he_ is involved." With that, she turned to the demon, pulled out a knife, and proclaimed, "I know where my father is. He's burning in Hell, along with my brother. Don't you think the one who killed him would know? The one who was raised by him for twelve fucking years?"

A gasp came from the demon tied at the pillar and he bowed. "I am so sorry, princess. I didn't recognise you. But I assure you, your father is alive."

Clary exploded. "HE IS NOT ALIVE!" she screamed, hurling the knife at the demon.

Midway through her throw, a shout of "Don't!" was heard from one side of the room and Clary faltered and her throw went wide, missing the demon's heart and instead barely skimming the side of his stomach, embedding itself in the pillar, cutting through a piece of the electrum wire that bound him there.

The red-head turned toward the shout, missing the fact that the demon could now escape. "Why not?" she asked of the golden-haired boy who was standing in a pile of cables near the door.

* * *

When Jace entered the room, it appeared deserted. Then, suddenly, if they had appeared while he was blinking, four people exploded into existence. One of them, the boy who had caused trouble at the entrance, was bound to a pillar with some sort of wire, while the other three paced around him with weapons in their hands. By their conversation, the boy tied to the pillar was supposed to die. He didn't understand what was going on at all.

However, when a knife was finally being thrown at the boy after an explosive shout from a short red-head, his instincts took over, and he stood up and shouted "Don't!" The knife failed to kill the boy, only severing a piece of wire.

The red-head, who had thrown the knife, turned to him and asked him a question that baffled him. "Why not?"

"Well, um," he stumbled over his words, ashamed at himself, a normally cool guy, for being so pathetic. Finally he came up with a reason. "You can't just kill people."

A girl with long dark hair who he had heard being called Isabelle snorted. "That thing isn't a person, Blondie. Don't meddle in things you have nothing to do with and know nothing about."

Suddenly, the demon launched at them, latching onto the redhead-Clary, Jace thought her name was. She cursed in several different languages, fumbling for a knife in her boot while simultaneously trying to get the boy who they had called a demon off of her back. Seeing his hands turn into claws and his teeth into fangs, he didn't doubt he was a demon, anymore. What he did doubt was that Clary was just human, as he watched her retrieve the knife and throw him off of her, flipping around in midair to land straddling the demon, her knife already driving in for the killing blow. When it struck home, black blood spurted out and hit Clary in the face. She gasped a little in pain, but refrained from screaming. He watched the demon's body folding up and the blade being worn away and wondered how her face was faring.

"Iratz, Iz. Quick," Clary panted, wiping as much of the demon blood off of her face as she could.

Watching Izzy pull out a stick and draw on Clary's skin with it, then some of Clary's wounds close up seemingly magically, Jace began to back away, but was met with Alec, who pointed a bow at him from the door and made it clear he would not be leaving. "You idiot mundie. Clary might have died," he said in a calm but menacing and harsh voice.

"But I didn't! You know, my training does pay off. But, seriously, Goldilocks, you shouldn't do that. Someone could die," Clary said, at first playful and later reprimanding.

Jace shook his head. "Someone did."

At this, Isabelle hissed harshly. "What did I tell you, mundie? It was a demon, not a someone!"

At that exact moment, the door burst open, revealing Simon and two bouncers. Simon, who had been talking, finished his sentence. "-said they went in here." Then he saw Jace. "Jace! Where exactly are these knife-carrying people?"

Jace was flabbergasted, and turned around quickly. He still saw them, but Clary grinned, making it clear that she wasn't surprised that they were invisible to Simon and the bouncers. He turned back to Simon. "I guess it was just a trick of the light," he said, embarrassed. He heard laughter and in the corner of his eye, he saw the girls doubled over in laughter.

 **A/N: Thoughts? Should I post the next bit?**


	2. Java Jones

**Due to having a bit more of the story written and being very inspired for it at the moment, I have a new chapter. This is also due to the amount of support I got within hours of posting it. 4 reviews, 7 follows, 3 favourites, and over 80 hits. I was thrilled, so here's the next chapter you all asked for!**

 **Sorry for the fake chapter posting a few minutes ago. I accidentally clicked on the document for the first chapter. I'm still a pretty new user, before I only read stories.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the Mortal Instruments, and some of the lines. Those belong to the infinitely better and more creative Cassandra Clare.**

 **Reviewers**

 **PrincessKooki, Two Guests, catastrophicmind**

 **catastrophicmind: they still have the right parents from canon, they were just raised by others. I have a plan for a prequel to this, if you want more information on it. It's not up yet though.**

* * *

"Dude," Simon said in the cab afterwards, "That was embarrassing. What happened? You were so sure."

"I don't know, Simon," Jace sighed, "but I doubt they'll let us back in there after that. Probably thought we were pulling some practical joke." He looked sideways at Simon, who was trying, and failing, to suppress a grin.

"A shame," Simon said, sarcasm heavy in his voice. "I liked it there so very much." He had never liked the club, and only ever went because Jace asked him to. He was hardly the club type: jeans, gamer t-shirts, sneakers and glasses. He didn't even own club clothes, and likely never would.

Jace looked down at his watch when it beeped twice, signaling that it was something o'clock. The LED lighting showed 11:00:13. "Damn!" he cursed, and Simon looked down at his own watch, seeing the problem.

"Your mom's going to be so disappointed in you. And she'll probably want to have you checked out after you thought that you saw those people. Call me later?" he asked as he hopped out at his house. He ran inside before Jace could say anything.

Instead, Jace texted him.

u going 2 leave me 2 face her alone? i h8 u. —J

ye bro, but u no i 3 u. and u can't h8 me. i'm ur only frend —S

home now. i'll txt u l8r. —J

luck, —S

Jace was indeed almost home. Walking through the front door, he saw his mother on the couch. "Jace, honey. You know how worried I get when you get home late. The least you could do is text me!" she said, disappointment clear in her voice.

"I know, Mom, I'm sorry. I would say 'It won't happen again', but it will so instead, I will try to minimize how many times this will happen in the future. And next time I'll text you."

"Please. Now go to bed, honey."

When Jace got to his room, he texted Simon again.

hey. u ther? —J

duh. —S

This text was immediately followed by another.

so howd it go? u grounded or anything like that? —S

u no she wudnt, si. shes just disappointed again. —J

u need 2 stop doing that 2 her. dick. —S

u cant talk, mr idonthaveacurfew —J

ye, ye, wutever. im going 2 bed. l8r loser. —S

l8r dork. —J

Simon somehow always made Jace feel better, even when he half-heartedly insulted him. With that thought, Jace fell asleep.

* * *

Walking home to the Institute, Clary, Isabelle, and Alec discussed their encounter with the mundane boy. Alec was insisting they tell Hodge as if Clary and Izzy were disagreeing, which they weren't.

"Guys," he said, "We have to tell him. If we don't, he might do that again, and get himself-or one of us-killed." He didn't really care if the mundane got himself killed, but he did care if Clary or Isabelle died. Isabelle was his sister, and Clary might as well have been.

Izzy sighed at him, "Alec, we will. On a more important note, why didn't you wear a dress, Clary? I told you to wear a dress."

"Why didn't you wear a dress, Clary? I told you to wear a dress," the girl in question mocked. "Because I damn well didn't want to, that's why. I was plenty sexy enough. Did you see him? Completely infatuated. Besides, I can move around better in this. It's almost like gear, just less protective."

"Clary, dresses are better! They show more skin!"

"But if he saw my skin he would see my runes!"

"You can make it so that we can't see them. You could do it so that he couldn't see them."

Clary looked at Isabelle and said, "I wasn't going to take the chance that he could. He would know we were hunting him and then he would have split. Besides, you know I don't like to do that. It feels like I'm pretending that I'm something I'm not."

At this point, Alec interjected himself back into the conversation. "Guys, we're almost back. What are we planning on reporting about this mission?"

"Well…" Clary began.

"We're going to follow your lead…" Izzy continued.

"And tell him that we killed the demon and a mundie saw us do it," they finished together. One of their favourite things to do was continue each others sentences like they shared a mind, since it annoyed Alec so much. The thing was, they knew each other so well that they practically did share a mind.

"Fine, fine. Mock me all you want, but let me do the talking," Alec said as they walked up to the front doors.

Opening them, Izzy yelled, "Hodge, we're back!" with no response but Alec's sigh and Clary's giggle. "Oh well! Better tell him in the morning then!"

"No," Alec said. "I'll find him and tell him. You just go deal with those demon wounds of Clary's and go to bed. You need to sleep. We'll figure out what's up with the mundie boy tomorrow."

And so they went to bed.

* * *

When Jace woke up the next day, it was no longer morning, which he discovered when he walked out of his room to Simon, who was sitting on the couch with his mom, saying, "Afternoon, Sleeping Beauty."

"Haha, very funny," he paused, sniffing the air. "Do I smell pancakes?"

"Yes," his mom, Jocelyn, smiled at him. "Simon helped me make them. Apparently he's quite the cook."

Jace turned to Simon, incredulous. "You cook?" He didn't see how his best friend since preschool had learned how to cook without Jace knowing.

Simon for his part, half-shrugged and mumbled, "Maybe."

After eating the pancakes, which happened to be delicious, Jace and Simon headed out to Java Jones, a local coffee shop, for a poetry reading that one of Simon's bandmates, Eric, was holding. Jace complained the whole way about how terrible Eric's poetry was and how he had no clue why he was even there.

Upon arrival, they ordered two coffees. Jace ordered a fairly strong coffee, with a lot of sugar, while Simon ordered a weak coffee with no sweetener. "You know," Jace said, "I think our coffees say a lot about us. I'm strong and sweet, and you're weak and bitter."

"Thanks, Jace," Simon said sarcastically, "I love being called weak and bitter. Makes me feel all warm inside."

"No, thats the coffee. You're mixing up me and your crappy coffee."

"My coffee isn't crappy!" Simon protested, but Jace's attention was drawn away by the fiery redhead who was ordering coffee. He felt like he had seen her before, but he didn't know where. Then it hit him-she was the girl from Pandemonium.

"Si, I'll be back. I'm gonna… I'm gonna go get more coffee," Jace said, trying to come up with a good reason for going back to the counter. He really just wanted to go talk to the redhead-Clary, if he remembered right.

"So," he said, walking up to her. "You wanna explain what happened yesterday?"

"This is going to be easier than I thought," she mused. Jace didn't understand.

"Huh?" was his intelligent response. He wasn't proud of it, but this girl was making so little sense.

"Give me a minute." She turned to the girl behind the counter. "Coffee, black, like my soul." She turned back to Jace. "When I get my coffee, let's go outside. I'll explain there."

Jace hesitated, but replied, "Okay, but my friend is here. I can't abandon him."

Clary smirked. "No, of course not. But I'm sure you'd love to escape the reach of that guy's horrible poetry?" she said, referring to Eric, who was on stage wailing into the microphone.

"Um, yeah. I wish I didn't know him."

Clary's eyebrows went up. "You know him? How?"

Jace was wishing he hadn't mentioned it. While trying to figure out his answer, in which he would do his best to make their relationship seem as minimal as possible, he took in Clary's appearance. Her fiery red hair was braided loosely down her back, nearly reaching her butt. She was wearing a bottle green sweater that matched her eyes perfectly. A splash of freckles crossed her cheeks and nose. She wore dark blue jeans with grey vans. She was beautiful.

He had been staring. "So, mundie. You gonna answer my question?"

Jace startled. "Oh, uh-yeah. But, my name's not mundie. It's Jace."

"Sure thing, Jace, whatever. Answer the question."

Jace sighed. "He's my friend's band mate. You gonna answer my question about what happened last night?"

Clary looked at him appraisingly. "I will," she began, "if you come with me easily. If not, we can do this the hard way."

Jace was flabbergasted. "I'm sorry, what? Are you threatening to kidnap me?"

"You could take it that way, I guess," Clary mused.

Suddenly, Jace's phone rang. Grabbing it, he saw it was his mother. He picked it up, not caring what Clary thought. "Mom?"

"Jace. I need you to do something for me. Look for people that nobody else can see. Go with them. They will protect you. But whatever you do, don't become one of them. And don't come home. I love you, baby," she said, while a crash sounded somewhere in the background.

"Mom? Mom! What's going on? Why can't I go home? Mom I need to get away from this crazy girl I'm with right now she killed a guy and now she's following me!"

Clary snorted at his description of her. She could hear most of what his mother was saying, too, so she knew that Jace needed to come with her. "Jace," she interjected, "I'm one of the people your mom wants you to find."

"What? You? That makes no sense!"

"Nobody can see me, because I glamour myself so that normal people don't see my walking around with lots of weapons. You saw it, last night. You better believe it," she said, "Or you're going to die."

"Jace, honey, go with her. I love you."

"What? Mom!"

 **A/n: How do you do the linebreak? I can't figure it out, and it keeps pushing stuff together. Also, if the characters seem a bit OOC to you, I am open to suggestions about how to fix that. Keeping characters in, well, character is not exactly my strong suit. Review please!**


	3. Jocelyn Fray

**This chapter is shorter than the others, sorry. But it's out really soon.**

 **Disclaimer: I'm not Cassie Clare. I don't own the Mortal Instruments.**

 **Reviews:**

 **: thanks for telling me! You can only get it when you edit the documents though, so i went through and added them in after creating the doc.**

 **Review and I'll update sooner!**

* * *

Jace ran into an alley that he knew was a shortcut home. Clary sprinted after him, surprising him with her speed. She was faster than him, but she didn't know these streets. Or so he thought.

In reality, she had spent several hours that morning finding his house and familiarising herself with the area so she could follow him without being seen. She had no trouble, and was actually at his house before him, leaping over rooftops along the way. He arrived, panting a little bit, to see her pushing open the door to Jace's apartment. "How the hell did you get here? And so fast?" Jace exclaimed.

"Ways," Clary said, unwilling to reveal the reasons for her superhuman speed.

"Fine. Act immature about it," he said as he walked up the stairs towards Clary and the apartment.

"Trust me," Clary said with a little shiver, "You wouldn't want to know. Now be quiet, there might be someone still here. In fact, wait out here." She walked inside the apartment, shutting the door behind her.

Like hell Jace was going to wait outside. He tried to open the door, but found that there was something blocking it. He figured Clary had barricaded it, but he had no idea how she had done it so quickly. He rammed his shoulder into it, trying to get it to move.

Meanwhile, Clary pulled out a seraph blade, and began to patrol through the ruined apartment. She knew that this was the work of demons, but she had no clue why demons would go after mundanes like Jace and his mother. Although there was the question of why he had the Sight. His house certainly looked like a mundane home.

The first surprise was walking into the bedroom Clary guessed belonged to Jace's mother. Not a thing was disturbed. A picture of her and Jace sat on the bedside table, next to a box. Naturally, she went to open the box. Inside were two locks of hair. One was red, the same colour as Clary's hair, and one was such a pale blond that it was nearly white. Her mind flashed to her father and brother, and she immediately pushed the thought away. Now was not the time to get lost in the past. There was also a picture and a ring. Clary recognised both. The ring was the Fairchild family ring. She knew the pattern from the identical one she had taken from her father's shelf that was dedicated to her mother. The picture was also identical to one that was there, one that she had let burn. Looking closer at the picture on the bedside table, she realised that this woman looked exactly like the photos of her mother.

Lost in thought, she failed to notice Jace making it through the barricade she had put up in front of the door. She only noticed when he asked, "Why are you looking through my mother's things?" Clary nearly jumped out of her skin. She had lost track of time. She cursed.

"Jace, what did you say your mother's name was?"

"I didn't. But it's Jocelyn Fray. If you're wondering about the box, she used to take it out twice a year and cry," Jace responded.

Clary was shaking. She was almost certain this woman was her mother. "And do you remember what days she took it out?"

"Umm, August 23, and, April 11, I think."

Clary felt like collapsing. Those were her and her brother's birthdays. This woman was definitely her mother. Shit.

Suddenly, a strange noise filled the room. Well, it was strange to Jace, but Clary's only reaction was to curse again. She knew the sound. It was a ravener demon. "Get behind me. Now," she commanded. Her tone brooked no disagreement, so when she advanced forward, Jace backed up.

The demon opened its 'mouth' and spoke a few words in a rasping voice. "A girl, and a boy. He didn't say anything about them. He wouldn't fault my for having a little… snack."

"I would say that depends. Was there anyone else, elsewhere who your employer was looking for?" Clary asked. She figured that she wouldn't get a response, but she tried anyway, if only to get its attention off of eating them. She was surprised when it answered

"Yes, a girl. His… daughter. To go with his wife. And his son. Yes, his daughter."

"No…" Clary's voice was shaking. "No! He can't have me! He's dead! He's dead. I killed him, he's dead."

"Oh, so you are the daughter. Guess I'll just eat the boy, then," the demon said. Brought back to reality and control by the demon's voice, she charged at it with a seraph blade and killed it. It hadn't expected her to do that, so it only took her one try.

"We're going to the Institute now. No arguments. Stay here while I call some people," Clary told him. She walked into the other room. While Jace sat on his mother's bed, at a loss as to what was happening, she called Isabelle.

"Izzy?"

"Yeah, Clary?"

"I need you to come over here. His apartment. I need to take him to the Institute," Clary told her.

Isabelle was shocked. Clary would never want a mundane in the Institute. "What? Why?"

"I'll explain when you get here. It's urgent. He might," Clary paused and swallowed. "He might be one of us."

"I'm coming."

* * *

Isabelle had been patrolling the area where Jace lived when Clary called. Her words had shocked her. Clary never wanted strangers in the Institute, even shadowhunters. They always judged her for her parentage and upbringing, which they did their best to hide. Nobody needed to know that she was the daughter of the one shadowhunter who went bad. But mundanes… Clary couldn't stand them. They were so lucky, in her opinion, though ignorant. They asked too many questions and said too many redundant things. So why would she want him here?

Isabelle ran to Jace's apartment. "Clary?" she called up the stairs.

She was relieved when she opened the door. "Thank goodness you could get here so fast. I'll get Goldilocks and we can head back to the Institute." She turned, and called over her shoulder, "Jace! Get out here, we're leaving. No funny business or running. There are two of us here, and we could both take you down easily alone. If you'd like to try, we can take you back to the Institute unconscious."

Isabelle raised an eyebrow at her. "Difficult?"

"Even more so than Alec." Izzy barked out a laugh at her brother's expense. Then the blonde boy showed up. He walked with them calmly until they got to the street corner, and then he tried to run away. Clary sighed and chased after him. Izzy didn't bother. She knew her parabatai could handle it.

She was not surprised when Jace was brought back unconscious over Clary's shoulder. Clary didn't even seem strained by his weight, which was surely more than hers. Clary smiled brightly at her. "So, let's go!"

By the time they reached the Institute, Clary was sick of this boy. She wanted to figure out what her mother was doing raising him, and how it seemed that Valentine was back. All she had told Izzy was that they were attacked by a demon and she killed it, and that she would explain more back at the Institute.

"Ugh. I wanna take a shower. Can you take him from here, Iz?" Clary proclaimed as they walked in.

"Sure. I'll take him to infirmary, it looks like he's gonna be out for a while. Then I'll go tell Hodge we've got him," Isabelle said, hoisting him onto her shoulder. "Jeez, Clary! How did you carry him all the way back?"

Clary turned around from where she was walking to her room. "Is he that heavy? I didn't notice. See you later, Iz."

* * *

 **A/N: Review and I'll post sooner! Your reviews inspire me! I don't know what Jonathan Christopher's real birthday is, so I just put in a random day. If you know, please tell me in a review! Have a good day!**


	4. Demons

**_!IMPORTANT PLEASE READ THIS AUTHORS NOTE!_**

 **So, I have had no wifi and no chance to write at all, really. Also, I was stupid about several things regarding the writing of this story that I will not bore you with. This is not the beginning of more updates, my authors note that I posted a while ago is still in effect. I only have wifi for a bit.**

 **Disclaimer: I'm not Cassie Clare.**

 **Reviews!:**

 **BABYGATOR1854: I'll try, but keep in mind this isn't a romance, and I am not currently sure what is going to happen. Chances are that they won't actually end up together.**

 **groe89: Your english is great, I wouldn't have guessed that it isn't your first language. (I wish I was that proficient in another language. I'm not. I definitely couldn't read a story in another language, let alone write a review in that language!)**

* * *

Clary sat in bed, staring at the ceiling, sketchpad in her lap. Jace asked far too many questions that brought up far too many memories. Glancing down at the sketchpad, she decided to work through it the way she always did, by drawing. She absentmindedly sketched for a few minutes. When she looked down, though, she was horrified. She had drawn her father, standing by the Ravener, which had her brother's face. Obviously something needed to be done.

Clary had only one thought-she needed more information. This motivated her to do something she hadn't done in years. Demon hunting-but with a special twist. She knew that the demons knew something, so she would go hunt them out and receive her information. It was something her father had taught her to do. It was useful, but it was unorthodox. Most shadowhunters would never take a demon's word, but the Morgensterns were different. The demons both feared and worshipped them, and would never dream of lying to them.

She tossed her sketchbook on her desk, then pulled out a 'Going Hunting' sign that she had made years before and threw that on top, so that the Lightwoods wouldn't worry. She did this sometimes, went hunting alone. They got used to it, since there was really nothing they could do to stop her.

* * *

When Izzy went to check on Clary an hour or so after they had gotten back to hear what had happened, she was greeted with silence upon knocking. Thinking maybe she fell asleep, she entered, to find the sign on the desk. Sighing and moving to put away the sketchbook she saw beneath it, she dropped it to the ground in shock. Staring up from the page, she saw something she feared greatly. The man who had raised her best friend.

Clary only drew him when something was up, when something had triggered the memories. Something bad was happening, and Izzy needed to know what. She could hardly bear to wait until Clary came back from hunting, but she couldn't go get her. Clary was somehow untrackable, so nobody had any clue where she had gone. She would be back by morning.

Izzy resigned herself to going back to her room and waiting for Clary, but changed her mind. She would go cook, now that there was no Clary to stop her.

In the end, the stew-at least, thats what it was meant to be-was horrible. Isabelle was left with nothing but training to distract her now, but she didn't need to, because Clary came back. She looked shaken and horrible, sick, even. Clary never got sick.

Yes, something was very wrong.

* * *

 **Yes, I know. It was short, I'm sorry. But I didn't have time. I just typed this up as fast as I could. I'll show Clary interrogating the demons next chapter, and explain why she looks 'sick.'**


	5. Unusual Happenings

**Hey guys! Sorry for the long absence, I had no wifi. I will not be posting regularly, but I'll try. No promises. Also, after this chapter, I will be making myself a beta profile, because I will have written enough! [sarcastic yay]**

 **People who reviewed: Thanks for reviewing! Your reviews are somewhere in my Fanfiction folder in my email, so I haven't read them in ages, sorry.**

* * *

Clary strolled through the streets at a leisurely pace. She never needed to look for demons. They came to her.

The first few weren't quite what she was looking for, so she disposed of them, but along came a useful one, a servant of Akeshya, a Greater Demon who dealt in all things poisonous. "Princess," the demon said, in a voice like a snake's, "What is required of me?"

"Information," Clary said coldly. She needn't seem at all friendly or compassionate to demons. To them, she was Princess Clarissa, the she-demon who walked in daylight. She was revered by all, alongside her father and brother. However, she had thought to be the only one of the deadly trio of Morgensterns left. "I want you to tell me all you know about Valentine and his whereabouts the last four years." She thought to add that she thought he was dead, but figured that that would give the wrong impression. She could not seem divided from her father, if he was, indeed, alive.

"Lord Valentine has been underground, looking for his family. You as well. That is all I am allowed to divulge."

"Even to his daughter," Clary asked, "Who needs to know for the purpose of a... special mission she is on?"

The demon hesitated. "Well," she began, "I guess you may know. He has been hiding in the 'interdimensional apartment' though I do not know what that is. Jonathan was subdued for a few months on a hunting trip a bit ago, but he's back now and they have Jocelyn. She apparently has a son, but he looks nothing like her. No evidence of the father, but the son is definitely not Valentine's." There she paused for a moment, and in that moment, Clary cut in.

"That will be all," were the last words the demon heard as Clary stabbed it in the mouth. A nasty green gas emitted from the corpse as it fell, and it consumed Clary as she turned to leave. She cursed to herself. She knew that this was one of the only things in the world that could make her sick. The Lightwoods would know something was wrong just from that.

She sprinted toward the Institute, desperate to reach it before she collapsed. She made it all the way in and saw Isabelle before her world went dark.

* * *

Isabelle was panicked. "Alec!" she screamed, and within moments, Alec was bolting around the corner, already asking what was wrong.

He stopped mid-sentence, though, when he saw Clary. "What happened?" he asked, concerned for her as well.

Isabelle was a blubbering mess as she replied, in fragments, "Hunting-she went hunting, alone-usually no problem-but she came back-collapsed-she looks sick-she never gets sick."

Alec did his best to comfort her as he picked up Clary and brought her to the infirmary.

* * *

Alone in his room later, Alec let all of his own worry leak out, slowly and quietly. He had to be strong for Isabelle earlier, but now that he was alone, he needed to decompress. It was horrible, and his pillow was wet that night. He would get a fire message to his parents in the morning.

* * *

Sunlight streamed in through the windows as Maryse and Robert Lightwood, along with their son Max, returned to the Institute. They first went to their own rooms and unpacked from their trip, expecting to see everyone at breakfast. This was not the case.

They sat in the large dining room a while later, around the time when Isabelle, Alec, and Clary would usually make an appearance. They ate scrambled eggs that Maryse made, and quite a while after the teens would usually be there, Robert and Maryse decided that it would be wise to go and find them. They checked in each of their rooms, and found nothing. Just leaving Alec's room, a fire message appeared in front of them, from Alec. Evidently, they had not been expected back quite yet.

They walked through the residential halls while they read the fire message, which told them of the many crazy things that had happened in the short time while they had been gone. When they figured out that they would be in the infirmary, they nearly ran there. In their haste, they nearly missed Max poking his head out of his room to ask what was happening. As it was, they only gestured to him to come with them, and so he came.

When they got to the infirmary, they opened the doors to find Clary in bed, being fussed over by Isabelle, while Alec observed a stranger who, for some reason, had a rune of immobility on him. They were slightly confused, but simply walked in and demanded answers.

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 **What did you guys think? I know it was short, sorry about that, but I don't have much time these days. It is longer than the last chapter, though. Review!**


	6. Nightmares

**Hey everyone! Didn't think I would update again this soon, did you! I have a poll on my profile as to what fandom I should write for next. Mortal Instruments is not on there, because I'm already writing this story for Mortal Instruments, but I do have some good options! If there is anything else thats not on there that you think I should write about, feel free to PM me!**

 **There haven't been any reviews yet on the last chapter, but thanks to everyone who followed and favourited! I still can't believe that people actually want to see my writing!**

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Clary was shaken from one dream to the next, each horrible. Her father, holding a syringe of golden liquid. Her brother, his green eyes turning pitch black. Her mother, leaving them behind. Her, tossing aside a body, her eyes just as lifeless as the dead girl's. There was an underlying message to it all. It echoed through her soul. _You aren't good enough. You aren't strong enough._ Everyone who had ever made a difference in her life appeared, even Jace.

Every time someone appeared, she flinched. The dreams evolved into half-memories, memories of abuse and experiments, but carried out by the wrong people.

* * *

Meanwhile, the people taking care of her worried over her continued unconsciousness. Jace had been released from his bed-prison, and now was, inexplicably, worried about Clary. He began talking to Alec, and though at first Alec was tense and unhappy with Jace, he became more accustomed to him. He even offered to show him around the Institute to get both of their minds off of Clary.

"This is the weapons room," Alec proclaimed, opening the door. "You aren't allowed to touch anything in there. In fact, just stay out of there unless you're with one of us." Weapons lined the walls, many of them at least somewhat supernatural. Some of them carried runes, while some were made of adamas. None of them were something they wanted a mundane, or at least someone who might as well be mundane, to handle.

Next, Alec showed him the music room. "Do you play any instruments?" he asked when Jace seemed to want to go inside.

"Just the piano."

Alec responded, "That's cool. You can come in and play anytime you want, just be careful and don't touch any of the other instruments. Clary might kill you." Jace laughed, but Alec was serious. "No, Jace, I'm not kidding. You mess with them and you'll be pinned to the ground with a knife to your neck before you even know she's there."

"You sound like you speak from experience," Jace noted.

Alec laughed. "That's probably because I do." Jace shuddered a bit.

"Why don't we move on now," Jace said with a hint of nervousness.

Alec walked him to the residential halls. "You can have any bedroom along here with an open door. If it's closed, someone lives there. Keep your room close to our's, though, okay? I'm the one right in the middle on the left side, okay?"

"Okay."

"I'll just leave you to it, then. Explore all you want, just no weapons room, no instruments other than piano, no closed bedroom doors. Deal?"

"Sure thing," Jace responded. He wondered why those rules, but didn't think he wanted to be caught snooping. But then he thought of the fact that they were all in the infirmary with Clary. He wouldn't touch anything. They wouldn't notice. With that in mind, he approached the first door.

* * *

Clary was beginning to wake up. Her nightmares did not get better, in fact they got worse, until she jolted upright in the infirmary. She expected another half-memory where these people who were clustered around her bed would be the ones running tests on her. She cowered, made herself as small as possible, shrunk back under the sheets. "Please don't hurt me," she whimpered, rocking back and forth.

The Lightwoods gasped. Clary hadn't acted like this since she was 12 years old. This was more serious than they realized. Her father, Valentine, was certainly involved. No tears came to Clary except when he was involved. Clary and her father had a strange relationship. She had loved him, he had used her, she had killed him, and now he was messing with her from the grave. Or so they thought. Clary, along with much of the Downworld, knew the truth. Valentine was back, and reassembling his forces. He already had his Queen and Prince back. Now all he needed was the Princess, and the royal family was complete.

This thrilled demons and terrified downworlders. He would take the demons as his allies, and destroy the Shadowhunters and the downworlders.

Valentine was a force of pure terror, and everyone knew it.

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 **Oh, I always hate this part in stories where a main character is making a bad decision. Please don't hate me. Please vote on my poll!**


	7. Rooms

**Ok, so I saw that we had over 2500 views on this story and was inspired to write, because that is insane. I suppose that that is counting all the views on the first chapter from when you click on it to get to the last chapter or whatever but wow. Thats a lot, guys. So, nobody has voted on the poll, but please please please do, I am writing a Harry Potter story right now and I am working on this one and a few Fairy Tail ones, but please vote because I need inspiration. Also, if you guys didn't know, I also love Fairy Tail and I published two stories that were on Wattpad here and people seemed to like them, so if you like Fairy Tail, check those out! Now, to the story...**

* * *

The Lightwoods were furious, as expected. Clary was part of their family, despite her Morgenstern heritage, and her father didn't deserve the impact that he had on her life, in their eyes. All he had ever done, it seemed, was hurt her. If, now, she was getting nightmares and acting like she was twelve years old again, something was wrong. Izzy was especially angry, because her parabatai bond with Clary meant that they were more connected than most people ever could be.

Izzy was trying to calm her down. "Shh, Clary. Clary, it's me, Izzy. It's Isabelle, your parabatai. I'm right here, he won't hurt you." Her face hardened. "I promise he won't hurt you again."

"Don't promise something you can't guarantee," Clary whispered. Isabelle barely heard. Her eyes widened in worry. That was exactly what her friend had said when she said something similar when Clary first came to the Institute.

Clary was becoming who she was before the Lightwoods, and that was a very dangerous thing for her to be.

* * *

Jace was looking into a room that smelled of paint and paper. It was covered in sketches, some of weird designs that looked similar to what they had on their bodies, some lifelike sketches of people, some scenes so vivid he felt he was there. He felt an air of danger underlying the whole cheery atmosphere created by the bright colours, though. He wasn't sure why, but he certainly felt it. He backed out of the room, certain that if he stayed any longer, the one who lived there would find him there.

Shaken by what he had sensed in the room, he went quickly to an open room and decided that it would be his. It was as close to Alec's as he could be while being away from the room. Having done this, he decided he still wanted to wander, and so set off to orient himself about the large, maze-like building.

* * *

The Lightwoods left Clary with Max for a small meeting in the dining room. "I'm worried," Izzy began. "She's acting like she did when she was twelve. She's even saying the same things."

"This is bad," Maryse acknowledged. "She thought we were going to hurt her."

Alec nodded. "Remember when she used to get nightmares? Reminds me of that, but she's never been afraid of us in that way before."

Robert agreed gravely. "It used to be 'Don't let him hurt me,' and now it's 'Don't hurt me'? What is going on here?"

"But what could it be? Valentine is dead, and so is Jonathan," Maryse questioned.

Alec sighed. "I don't know, but what I do know is that if she decides we are the enemy, then we are doomed."

The family nodded solemnly. What they didn't notice was Jace leaving from where he had been lurking at the doorway, listening to their conversation.

He didn't know what to make of it. The family was acting very strange, and the way they were talking about Clary was ominous. And who were Valentine and Jonathan? There were far too many questions, with far too few answers.

His automatic response to a situation like this was to play it out, whether on the piano or through sports. In this situation (as he did not know about the training room, which was quite on purpose) he chose to play the piano. It took him the better part of fifteen minutes to find his way back to the music room, upon which he sat down at the stool and began to play. It was a piece that he knew by heart, but had no name. His music teacher had written it in a state of boredom, and Jace had loved it. It had taken him years to master it as completely as he had, but he did it, and was very glad that he had put in the time and effort to do so. He played his heart out, letting all of his emotions and thoughts seep into the piece. When he was finished, he went back to his room and stared at the ceiling. Jace had no idea what was happening in this strange family, but he felt like he had to find out.

* * *

 **So, yeah. If you read the authors note at the top, thanks. 2500 views, if you didnt! Yay! review, it makes me write faster!**


	8. Slipping

**Guys, this story is at** ** _3000_** **views. That is insane, and 500 more than five days ago, when I posted the last chapter. There's also 28 favourites, 44 follows, and 15 reviews. Wow. Review, and I will update faster!**

* * *

Clary was slipping more and more into her old self. She had left her bed in the infirmary, not trusting such an open space. It wasn't hard to get away from Max. All she had to do was ask him to go get her some water. While he was gone, she left to a more secluded spot in the training room where she didn't think they would look for her.

This place was in the rafters where they learned balance. It was higher than the normal set, though, and nobody could get to it but her. Nobody knew that she could get to them, though, so it was a perfect hideout for her. She hadn't used it in a few years, but it suited her needs perfectly now.

She climbed up there, taking care that she stayed out of sight from Church and Jace, both of whom wandered by her on her way over. She was sure that either of them would quickly give away her position if they knew it and the Lightwoods asked. It had been years since she had hid from the Lightwoods within the Institute, but she didn't trust herself to leave it right now. She could easily be caught unawares by her father's minions and taken to him, and she wasn't sure what she would do if that happened.

Her relationship with her father was a difficult one, but it was not entirely negative. That is not to say that there was love involved, necessarily. Valentine saw her as something he had created, and looked on her with pride when she succeeded to do what he asked of her. This was nearly every time, as she craved his pride. It did also help that he had formed her into a powerful being, who had powers beyond that of the average shadowhunter. He had assured that she had been born with extra angel blood in her veins, and had increased that amount substantially throughout her childhood. He had also made her very loyal to him. While she thought that she had killed him, it had not been on purpose. She would never have killed him the way she was when she was twelve.

However, over the years her view of her father had changed. He no longer seemed perfect and omnipotent. Instead, she had realized that he had done some horrible things. She regretted killing him less. This did not change her feelings for him entirely, though. He had still raised her, and he was what she had known for most of her life. He had made her who she was. She may not think him perfect, anymore, but she did not think him evil. Clary had learned to stay quiet about it whenever Valentine was brought up by the Lightwoods, but she did not like the way they spoke of him, as if he could do no right, as if he was worthy of no place better than hell. She masked it, pretended to hate him to other shadowhunters, hid that he was her father, but she never hated him. He had always meant too much to her. And now that he was back, this weakness for him could be her undoing.

* * *

Max came back into the infirmary with water for Clary, only to see that her bed was empty. With the grace and speed that his shadowhunter blood lent him, he set down the cup and ran out of the room to find his family. "Mom, Dad, Izzy, Alec! Clary's gone!" he shouted as he ran. He didn't know where exactly they were, but he figured that the weapons room or the dining room were his best bets. He raced to the weapons room first, as it was slightly closer, but found that the elder Lightwoods were not there. He turned around and promptly sprinted down the corridor the other way, heading for the dining room, yelling the whole way. On his way, he passed Jace, who heard his shouting. Max barely registered Jace's presence, more focused on finding his family.

He only noticed Jace when he yelled "Hey! They're in the dining room!" at him, trying to catch up. He did catch up, surprising Max. "I'll run ahead and tell them, okay?"

Max just nodded, a little short on breath.

* * *

The Lightwoods were sitting around the table in silence when Jace ran in, gasping for breath. "Max told me that Clary is gone from her bed," he gasped out.

The four of them went rigid. "Shit," Isabelle whispered.

Maryse immediately said, "Isabelle, watch your tongue!" as a reflex, even though she had said the same thing in her head.

"Now what do we do?" Alec groaned. "We'll never find her. I swear, she knows the Institute better than all of us combined, and we've lived here longer."

The Lightwoods had no clue what to do. They didn't bother to include Jace in their discussion. He knew nothing of importance, clearly. It was true that they would never find Clary. If she didn't want to be found, she wouldn't be. She didn't even need to use her super runes to hide from them.

Robert was the one who finally sighed and said it. "We'll just have to wait. I doubt she left the Institute like that, but she probably won't be coming out too soon. There's nothing we can do until then."

Isabelle knew that he was right, but she worried. Clary was her parabatai, after all. She had every right to worry. She knew that Clary would probably do better with some emotional support, but she couldn't give it if she couldn't find her. Besides, with the way she was acting, she might not accept their support right now.

There really was nothing that Isabelle could do for her friend at the moment, and that worried her more than anything.

* * *

 **So, what did you guys think? This one is almost, or at, 1000 words! I haven't done that since chapter three! Review for more!**


	9. Hiding

**Sorry about that break, but it was necessary for my health.**

 **Guess what? 4000 views.**

 **Also, if anyone is a fan of Fairy Tail, Percy Jackson, The Mortal Instruments, or Harry Potter, and is not afraid of clowns, check out my profile on the 31st (Halloween) when I will be posting a one shot of each about the current clown crisis and how it is relevant to each series.**

* * *

No, they never would find her. She didn't stay in one place. She wandered through the various parts of the Institute, always hearing her step-family in enough time to hide from them. Eventually she found herself in a place that the Lightwoods, except Isabelle, didn't know of. It was one of the bedrooms meant for visiting shadowhunters. Clary had done it up with the help of Isabelle to be her brother's room. While sometimes he was very mean, he was also very kind and loving sometimes. She missed him occasionally, more when she had first come. She had only visited this room a handful of times in the past few years, but the reasons were never very good.

Izzy had thought about this room recently. Knowing that it was the only place where Clary would be too distracted to hide from her, she went to check if Clary was inside, thinking about her past. She was right. The red-head sat on the bed she wished were her brother's, staring at the art she wished she could give him. The walls were practically papered with drawings of Valentine, Jonathan, and Clary herself, sometimes together, sometimes alone. Their emotions differed from piece to piece. Sometimes they were happy, sometimes they appeared to be mourning, sometimes angry and scared.

Then Isabelle spotted something strange. It was a drawing half-hidden under many others, in colour. The Lightwoods and Morgensterns were all clumped together happily. It looked like they were all friends. Isabelle and Jonathan both had their arms over Clary's shoulders, and everyone was smiling. Apparently Clary still dreamed that her two families could be happy together. Isabelle knew that this was impossible, but Clary's sanity was the least secure of anyone's in the Institute.

She had problems, yes.

Isabelle backed out of the room, heading to find her mother. She had some things to do.

* * *

"Mom!" Maryse heard her daughter calling her from outside the library.

"I'm in the library!" she called back.

Isabelle rushed in, looking sad. "Mom, I need you to make some lunch for Clary. She won't eat unless we give it to her. She's too zoned out."

Maryse snapped to attention. "You found her?" she asked, incredulous. "How? Where?"

"A hiding spot. It's not important. She's not leaving, and she'll react better to me than any of you. But I can't cook," Izzy explained. She really couldn't. Everyone considered it toxic.

And so Maryse agrees to cook lunch for Clary.

* * *

Jace hadn't stopped his wandering. He poked his head into the rooms that he came by, but he was in a residential hallway, so none of them were used, and all of them were identical.

At the end of the hall, a door was open that was normally closed. Jace, not realizing that it was one of the 'occupied' rooms, went in. This was a mistake, though, because he was loud and not welcome in the room Clary had created. She whipped a knife out from her boot and slashed at him. He screamed, wondering why this girl had done it, and why she was so different from when he had last seen her. She seemed to change drastically every time he saw her.

He was startled out of his thoughts when she swiped at him again, and he jumped backwards, but not enough. The tip of her knife still passed through his sleeve and cut his shoulder. His next step backwards brought him to the wall.

He was trapped in the corner of Jonathan's room, Clary in front of him holding a knife. She didn't know who was in front of her, only that it was not her brother and not one of the Lightwoods, so he was trespassing.

* * *

That's how Isabelle found them a few seconds later when she walked into the room. "Clary!" she cried, setting down the food quickly. "Clary, get away from him! What happened?"

Clary turned from Jace and threw her arms around Isabelle. She didn't drop the knife, but she did spin it so that she didn't stab her parabatai. "He is in Jonathan's room. He shouldn't be in Jonathan's room," Clary whispered to her. "Why is he in Jonathan's room?"

"Shh, Clary. I'll explain in a second," she told Clary while motioning to Jace with her head that he needed to leave, while glaring at him. It was obvious that he wasn't meant to tell anyone about this.

Jace left the room and went back to his own. As he left, he heard Isabelle whispering to Clary, though her couldn't make out the words. He figured-correctly-that Isabelle would chew him out for being in that room later, but he was too shocked by the redhead's reaction to him being there to worry. Someone attacking you for just walking into a room wasn't something that he had had to deal with at all in his life.

He felt his phone buzz. Pulling it out of his pockets, he saw that he had a bunch of texts from Simon.

Scrolling through them, he typed a quick response.

hey man, im stuk wher i am. protecting me or something. -J

He got a response back very quickly.

who is? why? whats goin on? -S

cant explain. sry. -J

With that, Jace turned off his phone and put it face down on the desk. He also turned his ringer off so he didn't have to listen to Simon texting him every two seconds.

Jace quickly fell asleep. That's how Isabelle and Clary found him two hours later, and Clary drew a rune on his wrist to make him forget about Jonathan's room. He wouldn't remember any of it.

* * *

 **So that's that chapter! Please review, and don't forget to check out those one-shots!**


	10. Truth and Facades

**I'm back! For those who don't know why I haven't posted on any of my stories during the month of November, I was doing NaNoWriMo, otherwise known as National Novel Writer's Month. The goal is to write a novel in a month, and under 17s pick their own word count goal. I met mine, and I'm super proud!**

 **And then I just wasn't inspired to write for the next several months. Sorry. But we just hit 6,000 views, and it has given me motivation to continue working on this! Review to give me more inspiration and motivation! If you have any questions, about the story or anything else, put them in your review and I will answer them!**

 **I had to re-read my story to get back in touch with everything I wrote. I know I've been writing a lot of sad, broken Clary recently, and I'm hoping that will change this chapter. Here we go!**

* * *

Clary hid in her own room for the rest of the day, not wanting everyone to crowd her yet. She wasn't ready. Isabelle knew where she was, and the Lightwoods knew that she knew where she was, so she wasn't worried about them trying to find her. They realized years ago that she would come out when she was ready.

So she did. The next day at breakfast, Clary walked into the dining room ahead of Izzy, acting just like she used to. The Lightwoods and Jace stared at her. She acted indifferent and ignored them as she sat down, but Isabelle glared at them from behind her. They quickly got the message, except for Jace. The Lightwoods acted as they always did, but Jace didn't know how this worked. He continued staring at Clary, not sure what to expect. The harsh but playful girl she had been the first few times he saw her? Scared and skittish like she had been in the infirmary? He had no clue, and he was not being subtle about it at all.

Clary, of course, noticed, as she always did, but she didn't let on. The Lightwoods, who knew her, were aware of the fact that she was aware, but Jace thought that she hadn't noticed. He didn't know of the extra angel blood she possessed, or how that affected her senses so that they were better than the Nephilim, on par with those of werewolves and vampires. He didn't know her.

Jace was arrogant, though, and thought he did. Not entirely, of course, as he wasn't that blind, but he thought he knew her reasonably well. This meant, then, that he was completely shocked when she nonchalantly asked, "Pass me the eggs, will you, Max?"

He spit out some of his apple juice when Max passed them over to her easily, simply saying, "Sure thing, Clary."

Isabelle looked at him and smirked. "What's wrong, Goldielocks?" He always walked around like he was better than everyone, and she hated it. It was a great opportunity to take him down a notch when he had juice dripping from his chin all over his shirt. Clary barked a laugh. Jace's expression shifted to one of hurt, then embarrassment, as he quickly tried to mop up the excess staining him and the tablecloth. The rest of the people, however, straightened up a little, their smiles widening. Clary was back.

Or at least, Clary was better.

* * *

Later, while Clary sat in her brother's room, drawing for him, she got a knock at the door. She knew it was Izzy, so she didn't bother to get up, simply calling, "Come in!"

The door creaked open and Izzy poked her head around it, her ponytail swinging out behind her. "Hey. I checked your room first and then tried here. Figured that you'd be here or nowhere," she told her. Looking around the room, she noticed several new drawings, including one where Valentine, Sebastian and Clary were all smirking, standing around with their arms crossed. Clary was bruised and her smirk was also a half-grimace. Seeing these additions, Isabelle's brow furrowed. She was thinking about her blood relations more and more lately.

She took a deep breath and opened her mouth. "All right," she began, "I want to know why you're acting like this again. Your father is dead, right?" Everyone knew that Valentine was dead. It was something that shadowhunters everywhere celebrated. In fact, it was the only reason that Clary was allowed to be near normal people. She wasn't trusted much, but she was trusted as much as she was for one reason only: she had caused Valentine's death. Izzy knew something about it that nobody else did, though. She knew that Clary hadn't meant to kill him.

She knew that some part of Clary still loved the man that had raised her a monster. She still loved the man who had abused her, the man that had trained her too hard and hurt her when she failed. She still loved him.

But not as much as she loved her brother, her demon-blooded brother. Only Izzy knew about that, too.

"No."

Her dark-haired parabatai whipped around. _"What?"_ she spluttered. "He's-he's not dead?"

"No. Neither's Seb. And they have my mother." Clary said all of her words very quickly-she didn't think that she could force herself to say them in a way that was entirely comprehensible. If things were normal speed, they would be in the open. They would be accepted. That wasn't the goal. The goal was for one other to know. Perhaps the one person who the red-head trusted more than herself. She forced out one more sentence. "They want me back too."

* * *

 **I was going to write more, but I liked that cliffhanger, so yeah. Review please, and I will update faster!**


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